How to disable loop playback of animation?
Currently up to version 2.74 there is no option to disable looping playback.
There is a solution with a script from CoDEmanX:

import bpy

def stop_playback(scene):
    if scene.frame_current == scene.frame_end:
        bpy.ops.screen.animation_cancel(restore_frame=False)

# or restore frames:
def stop_playback_restore(scene):
    if scene.frame_current == scene.frame_end + 1:
        bpy.ops.screen.animation_cancel(restore_frame=True)

# add one of these functions to frame_change_pre handler:
bpy.app.handlers.frame_change_pre.append(stop_playback)